Door buffer and retainer



May 26, 1931. D. M. WINANS DOOR BUFFER AND RETAINER Filed March 20, 1930 IN V EN TOR M22 777. h/lhans 0W [7'15 ATTORNEY:

f g 4 Z5 Z8 Patented May 26, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

DANIEL M. WINANS, OF IBINGHAMTON NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE BREWER- TITOHENER CORPORATION, OF CORTLAND, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK DOOR BUFFER AND RETAINER Application fil ed March 20, 1930. Serial No. 437,504.

This invention pertains to buifers for doors or the like, and more particularly has reference to an improved bumper and antirattler device for silencing automobile doors. The

primary object is to provide for a simple and effective retaining fixture of this character serving to guide the door latch into proper engagement with its striker plate, also one adapted to absorb shock when the door is mslammed shut and to releasably hold the swinging edge of a closed door against obnoxious rattling effects.

A further object is to provide for a suitable casing adapted to mount a pair of retractable female jaws that are adapted to slidably yield in the path of the entered male 7 My door bumper device is entirely devoid.

aoof rubberas a buifer medium, hence the casing interior may be freely lubricated without detriment to the resilient element. In addition, this bufler casing together with the vehicle body to which it is usually assembled,

samay be baked for a prolonged period in j apanning ovens without impairing the bufier medium. Embodied herein are also other structural features designed to accomplish the foregoing and related purposes, all of which will be more explicitly set forth hereinafter.

Reference is had to the annexed one sheet of drawings which are illustrative of certain specific embodiments of my invention,

like characters of reference indicate like parts, and in which drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View depicting a portion of an automobile door and j amb post therefor, with a form of my invention applied "nerregion of the facing flange 211s provldedthereto.

Fig. 2 represents an exterior view of an assembled female casing that carr es spaced resilient aw members.

Fig. 3 shows a sectional view of the assembled casing as taken along the vertical plane III-III of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 4 illustrates a transverse sectional View 1 of said casing as taken along the horizontal plane IVIV of Fig. 2 but including assogiated portions of the jamb and door memers.

Fig. 5 is a sectional View as taken along the transverse vertical plane VV of Fig. 3.; Fig.5 shows a sectional assembly of modified female clamping members. Proceeding now to a description of the drawings, Fig. 1 is intended to indicate cer-,

tain conventional motor car elements indi rec'tly associated with my bufi'er device, of which 10 represents the swinging edge of a suitably hinged door provided with a marginal ledge 11 while the stationary door j amb 12 is rabbeted at 13 and adapted to' overlappingly receive said ledge in the'u'sual mannor. The door is further shown equipt with a latch 14 and the jamb provided with a cooperating striker plate 15 said jamb may also be provided with a stop pad 16.

The numeral 18 indicates in its entirety, the preferred style of female member of my improved buifer device as applied exteriorly of the door jamb while the numeral 19 rep resents the cooperating dovetail or male member thereof that maybe applied immediately behind the door ledge as shown. As will be understood, the described order of attach ment may also be reversed without changing the intended function of my device.

Figs. 2 to oinclusive'show the details of said femalemember 18 which may comprise a cross-sectionally Z shaped trim plate 20 having a flat facing flange 21 and a transversely disposed web wall 22, which are centrally slotted at 23 and adapted to receive a v cooperating male member the fashion disclosed in Fig.4. The free perimeter of the flange 21 may be provided with an upturned marginal ridge 2% that is preferably shaped up in the manner indicated. Each free corwith an integrally formed thimble-like extension 29 that is raised out of inner flange face; these apertured grommets are used for screwing the assembled casing in place.

My device further includes a unitary sheetmetal u in r c s ng mpris ng a ack ing plate25 equipt with a pain Of ofiset foot flanges such as 27 adapted to be centered in said ridge 2 1; and also having two oppositely" disposed sidewalls or fixed abutment's such as 26which are preferably set in angular relation. Each casing flange 27 is perfora-ted in registry with the respective grommets 29 and serves to secure said housing be; hind the trim plate. The projecting grommet ends are intended to beexteriorly upset t vete l ift t an t we l P t e been assembled therein. Said housing may o. be pmvide w th at n e ed ta l flange Mounted within said housing, are oppositely disposed yieldable elamping'members such as 3Q, each olt which may be made up from laminated striplilge metallic spring stock'or s ilar esili at ma ri th t is here shown bent up into a U shapedsh oe or block; of

ic o e leg 39A i t. an b t ing t'i n eth s ett v he si e si e Walls E i h nne mest shoe i s 013 ma e faced with a fibre wearing strip such as 31 although this not an essential feature. A d e-sh ped ate m y e me b w s i in lined s p with h ir" nver i edges locatedin a; remote relation to the as sembled web flange 22 as indicated in Fig. 3. The-compelmentary blocks are here confined between the web-plate 22 vand the tail-flange 28, but their; inclined free legs 39B are still; free to spread apart when the inale member i forc d herebet i- Cooperating. with said. complementary shoes is a wedge piece or clip preferably. but,v

not necessarilyfmade up from stripspring material whichis here shown as formed intoa tripleloop-lilre sl ape o'fwhich, the centeld com ri es. e p m nt ry p e jaws such as 33.; disppsed to constitutea substantially parallel doy'etail. receiving socket.

Said jaws are shown interconnected by, an

i te ra s l st k While the es t wing ends such as 35, are. each, given. a close urn, bend wit t e e t min l P- Qn thereof resting, in immediate adjacency "to;

the yolrefig the fashionshown in Fig. -3f.

L ai lewinss r p ql t v hred n de to lie contiguous to the respectiveinclinedabutment faces 31 after the. various working par-ts.

are operatively assembled. "It is preferredto so fermthe, complementary Wings 35 that thaws; have tqf ei snuyiore intb pl e] n tt us ntl pr sep a d i w' a 1 vv the, spapedgshoes 30 against. theirjf respective ed lop ngabu m nt Wal s-v Eig. (i; discloses ajpreferred structure, type r. at re: lam in estat s n ha het s jt tive resilient shoes 30 are each given a double U or S shaped contour. For certain purposes, it may prove expedient to augment the degree of longitudinal shoe movement and to this end the overall length of this particular spring is kept somewhat shorter than the p cing" pr yided be w en th Web p at 22 and the casing tail flange 28. An interposed actuating spring36 is now resorted to in urging the slidably mounted shoes 50 for wardly against the entering dovetail and away from the flange 28. The operation'of the"assembledparts is still essentially similar to that described in connection with the previous alternative disclosure, except that said pair of slidabl e shoes givena limited reciprocative niovementhaving a component that aligns with the path given to, the swinging dovetail member19. i

Fig. 4 shows the manner. in which the male and female members of my buffer are in tended to c oact while the door is being closed. Therelatively long dovetail tongue'19 be made to initially enter. more or. less freely.

twe n the pairof Socket jaws 3 3 tothe e tent indicated in said view'where, the door still stands ajar. In this initialfop erative P it n, t ead g d o said o g e first of the ciipjw'in n a d glidingly carry, the

Wings 3 long t e r e p bt v f lgcl ils e ces, thus a s ng the gripping'iew 38in quee e fqse e a dv ex a mented p essu e 1 dovetail 19;

The cited double frictional grip serves'to snugly holdthe closed c der members against as: Kf ef n qfi s r u ht. me: against the stop pad16 and'the'latcli 14' has become engaged wit'h the snakes plate l5, the resilienflclip will be tightly wedged between the inclined shoe facing's 31 whereby the wing ends ('ifth ia clip become spr ung inwardly to r'eenforcinglyrest upon the in terposed yoke 34. 'fWhile; this weaging ap tion causes the resilient shoesflflto' be' com p n he apposite s de-fin s see,

pressed tea certain 'eXtenn the spring reac tion causes the s acd jaws 33 toiitightly tween 7 t is P tetr d t k ep he Wings 'my dtble i n' l se re e ee e e; spiwd jaws in i derto providefon a compact" resiliefit j t ti'sit teas sk iitj li, n mum.-

ending. e fect. and qn qtent distprtion 1991 the yoke 39*; I

Bi v t e t h seased ntlined bleak face disposition, there is set ups counter;

clamp the entered nialemember 19 therebe j acting force that assists in opening the door immediately upon its being unlatched, notwithstanding that the door might have been tightly slammed shut and the buffer members carried by momentum into tight frictional engagement. In my device, the effort needed to reopen the door is materially reduced as compared to that required to close the same. This outstanding feature represents a decided advantage over conventional practice where the door is commonly hard to reopen and requires a pull substantially equal to the push or slam imposed in closing the door; in the cited practice, the buffer jaws are usually set close together and not adapted to freely receive the male member without initial jaw spreading action. In my self opening buifer device on the contrary, the clamping members only grip the entered male member after the latter has been almost wholly entered; in addition, provision is made to hold the door latch in rattle-proof engagement with its striker plate.

It is to be understood that the disclosed buffer device also finds application to purposes other than automobile uses, and that various changes in the details and mode of attachment may be resorted to in likewise carrying out my illustrative embodiments, all without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, heretofore described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a buffer fixture of the all-metal type, the combination of complementary space abutments, a faced inherently resilient clamping member of the metallic leaf-spring type for each of the abutments and which mem bers have their respective faces placed inwardly to cooperatively provide for a laterally expansible wedge-shaped spacing therebetween, wedge-like clip means mounted wholly within said spacing and having Oppositely disposed surfaces adapted to be shifted lengthwise of the respective member faces, and means serving to forcibly wedge the clip between said clamping members.

2. In a door bufier device comprising cooperating male and female parts, the combination of a housing having spaced side-wall means, a separate laminated clamping member of the resilient spring type associated with each of the side-walls and which members are faced to provide for a wedge-shaped spacing therebetween, and tongue means adapted to be progressively entered between said members and serving to impose an increasing clamping pressure upon opposite sides of the tongue.

3. In a door bufier device comprising in combination a pair of fixedly spaced abutments, a separate retractable clamping member interiorly associated with each of the abutments and the respective innermost faces surfaces that are respectively of which members are provided with spaced glide faces defining a wedge-shape therebetween, a protective fibrous wear strip for each of said oppositely inclined glide faces; a resilient wedge piece provided with a pair of inclined surfaces that respectively cooperate with and are slidable lengthwise of said oppositely inclined strips, and wedge actuating means forcibly carrying said piece toward the convergent region of said inclined strips.

4:. In a retaining fixture for a latchable door, the combination of a female part comprising fixedly spaced abutments, a separate inherently resilient member of U shaped contour cooperatively associated with each of said abutments, said members each comprising spaced complementary legs of which one such is mounted in a contigous relation to the abutment with which it cooperates while the opposite member legs are respectively disposed inwardly therefrom to constitute a pair of inclined glide faces defining a wedgeshaped space therebetween with the respective ends of the innermost legs terminating in the divergent region of said inclined glide faces, a socketed wedge piece having inclined slideable lengthwise of said pair of glide faces and yieldably received therebetween, and actuating means adapted to enter the socket of said wedge piece and to be gripped therein when said piece is forcibly carried toward the convergent region of said wedge-shaped space. V

In testimony whereof, I have herewith set my hand this 18th day of March, 1930.

. DANIEL M. WINANS. 

